Salley Stonebinder
Appearance This young woman is moderate in height with long, runner's legs, thin hips, a tiny waist and a barely-there chest. Her neck is long, her chin sharp, and her cheekbones high and prominent. Her smile is easy to come to her pink lips, and her eyes--almond shaped and brown like an old bronze coin--show an inner, natural warmth. Despite the smiles and welcoming attitude, she does seem to be always alert to her surroundings. This scout often keeps her blond hair pulled back in a high ponytail. Although the armor and bow seem worn and handed down, it does appear well used and expertly maintained. There's nothing heroic about this woman, nothing that makes her stand out, and she seems rather pleased with that fact. The ever present dog by her side is a well muscled war hound. Her coat is glossy red/brown and her collar jingles with a few army medals as she walks. But this dog has a presence about her of playful mirth behind the hard, military exterior. Her black eyes are bright and alert, looking for the next way to tease her mistress. Personality Vibrant and energetic, Salley is often putting her hands into something big then dances in and out of it until she finds the right spot to intervene. She loves to laugh and smile and get people together so no one is alone, whether it's political, romantic, alliances or friendships. However, when she takes on too much she can have a short temper to those that aren't her closest of friends. Salley is also known to be humorously oblivious sometimes to where she's physically clumsy as well; a complete opposite to when she's par with the rest of her colleagues, leading a troupe into battle or taking on a dangerous mission. Philosophy Her philosophy and drive for pacifism has brought Salley many frowns on war councils. She often goes out of her way to find allies that the councils ignore and befriending members of enemy groups in hopes of finding some way to forge peace. Sometimes these efforts have brought fruitful successes, other times these attempts have brought her into danger. This trust in her enemies and the belief that everyone possesses good in their hearts if only given the chance has gotten her captured by trolls, and once tortured by cultists of the Eyes of Old. She has two Blood Elf rivals that have shown up from time to time with assassination attempts and a game cat and mouse. In the end, they take advantage of Salley's weakness in her compassion. They oft leave her bruised as they know she can never take the final blow against them. Despite her continued struggle to gain peace--always dreaming of the day when the wars stop--she still takes up her bow. Dreams are useful, she says, but are not always practical. She's even picked up her bow for the sake of mercy-killings in the past. Once, even taking out a public extremist, Sir Terrick Baulvet, now coined the Bauvlet Crisis, for the sake of good after she helped release Bishop Johannes Moorwhelp from a prison hold. History (Inspirationed heavily from the added videos.) Westfall and the Husks Twenty two years ago a small child was left on the doorstep of a famer's house. The Miller's farm was not an orphanage but it was the closest thing to it in the northwest region of Westfall and many children took to squatting there. Some of the children thought the girl was part elf due to her slender form, but she was certainly human. Perhaps a fourth elvish, however, her heritage is unknown. They named the girl Molly and took her in with the other abandoned children of the poor lands. The youngest and the sick were allowed inside, but most of them were allowed to stay on in the barn and huddle with the cattle as long as they helped on the farm. It was when Molly was still very young, around seven, and staying in the barn that she noticed one of the older girls always crying and bruised. Her name was Salley and her job on the Miller farm was housework and childcare in the house due to a lame leg and a low immune system. Molly found out that the farmer was abusing Salley and taking advantage of the teenage girl's need to stay indoors. Sadly, it broke her spirit. Even in her youth, Molly wasn't going to stand for it. It was a kill or be killed world, and she saw Salley slowly being killed. So, during one of her fishing travels with her compainion, a dark boy named Lance, she picked up a stock of poisonous herbs and began to slowly drug the farmer's food. Everyone thought it was a cancer, it struck him deeply, and he eventually died. Even Molly wasn't sure if she meant to kill the man who was hurting her friend. A few weeks later, the growing group the, Defias Brothers, tried to blackmail the farmer's wife into handing over the deed to her land. Having so many children dependant on the tilting farm, she refused. Then, one night in the fall the Defias attacked, but from Molly and Lance's spying they were prepared. Neighboring farmers came to help fight off the Defias Brothers. Many of the teenagers fought with them, and Molly and Lance shot arrows from the roof. The farmers won, but the food storage went up in flames, rendering them at a loss for the winter. Salley secretly gave her shares away to the other children, already broken with nothing left to her; Molly opened her eyes one morning in the barn after a particularily cold night to find Salley dead with a spider crawling out of her open mouth. Molly has had an irrational fear of spiders ever since. Around the age of ten, Molly was no weakling child. She was tough, often hunting for wild game for the farm or fishing in the ocean three miles off. She was also one of the more dependant spies when it came to the Defias's work in their region. A lot of farmers depended on her and Lance's information to keep their little lives afloat since the army was never there to protect them. Lance had a voice on him and he used it. Fed up with the slowly dying lands and the Defias hoarding in on their lives, he started a group of children, The Husks, for that was all they seemed to reap in the fields. Here, they began gaining support from the local farmers. Funds and food and shelter to train and fight and forcefully push back the Defias. They would openly attack and assassinate the enemies. No one suspected it was children for a long time, so their movements were less noted when the Defias tried to retailiate. However, the Husks began to grow in power as they began to get support from the region. A bunch of wild children urged to fight to defend what little they had; it was doomed to fail. Eventually, it got to them to where they were becoming what they were trying to protect their homes from; demanding payments for protection even when the Defias was less a threat to the area. It all changed one blazing summer day when Molly was fifteen and leading a group of Husks to pick up payment from a farm. The farmers refused to pay and Molly put the farmers on their knees, placing a gun to their heads. The mother and father were murdered in cold blood because they defied the Husks' demands, and they took the children of the farm into their group to reforge them as their own. After that, more and more began to deny the Husks with fevor. More people died. Battles began to break out between locals and Hucks. The Defias began to make a resurgence in that corner of Westfall to where it was chaos and no one knew who was on what side, and what they were fighting for. After Lance publically executed a Defias leader as a show of his prowess, he and Molly sat of broken and rocking throwns in the region. Just as they were getting a handle on the power the military finally stepped in. The Husks and Defias alike were hunted and run out of the area. It took a year for the army to breach the head of the Husks and were dragged off for public execution. However, at the time, Molly was with child and had to watch from her cell as each member of the Husks, the only family she'd even known, hung for their crimes. Yes, teenages, and after she birthed the children she was to be next. Salvation at a Price During the last three months of her pregancy with twins, Molly was often visited by a devoted but lowly paladin by the name of Private Poe. He spoke often with the mourning but proud young Molly Miller about redeption and forgiveness. He was a guard that hoped to eventually work his wait up to be knighted but was very poor in speach or confidence. It was through him the Molly realized the true damage she had done to the northwest corner of Westfall. She manipulated, murdered, maimed... she was a terrorist. Because she and Lance let their power get to their heads, many of her family, the Miller orphans, were dead. In a world of kill or be killed, their souls would be better left if they were killed. When swollen with child and nearly ready to burst, a small remaining group of Hucks broke Molly out of her cell. They ran across the western shore, hiding among the dried grasses and leaping behing rocks, they made their escape north. The Husks spoke of reviving their glory and getting more of the teenagers on their side. However, in their run from the army, Molly began to complain of an incredible pain from the babies. They had to stop in a cave that was abandoned by the Difias to attempt the birth. The military that was hot on their heels found the cave as well and decided to stop there for the night. Hidden and quiet, Molly was forced to give birth in silence less the guard found their hiding spots. She never held the children, never heard them cry. It was a last ditch thought that one of the Husks took the children and ran from the cave. A baby wailed as he ran, alerting the guards. They chased him and the babies out of the cave. Molly was haunted by the crying suddenly going silent when guns began to fire and hearing nothing but the rolling ocean in the still of the night. It was then as she and the few remaining Husks began the silent trek along the shore away from the cave and guards that Molly stopped them. She told them to depart, to leave Westfall. That the Husks were dead and needed to remain that way. She tried to explain the damage they had done, that they could never reform. They abandoned the girl at the shore as she requested with bitter retorts. Molly didn't blame them. She was a figurehead in their mob and they couldn't reform witout extreme effort without her. So she sat, silently that night on a rock to watch the ocean roll in. The weight of her crimes fully upon her, she lowered her head and began to pray for forgiveness for all she had done. It was then that Private Poe found her in the darkness. She offered her life up, she was supposed to be killed on sight, but he relented. He offered her a bargain. With her ability to work a crowd and command a group, Private Poe wished to have her at his side to help him gain his way to knighthood, something he could never get himself. In exchange, she could change her name and status, move to Stormwind with him as his wife and use her new redeemed soul to help instead of hurt. Salley Miller was never registered as deceased in public record. Molly Miller needed to die. So, after eloping and traveling in disguise to Stormwind, Salley Poe was born anew. Deathwing's Destruction Two years Salley Poe lived in peace. She often went to the Cathedral to help and worked as a tea shop hostess. Sergeant Poe enjoyed toting his young bride to balls and functions, and she was well worth it. Through her good will, showing what a great man Poe was to his superiors, he made it up to Master-Sergeant and was growing in popularity. But, it was short lived. Deathwing came and all fell apart. Captain Poe died in battle while Salley barely escaped with her fellow military wives in their little district of Stormwind. Deathwing just so happened to burn their corner of their world to ashes. Military Life Early Recruit After the death of her neighborhood in Stormwind due to Deathwing's visit, and the loss of her husband, Salley couldn't afford to fall back to the slums where one of the Husks may likely have migrated into. So, taking up the totem of William's drive for Knighthood she enlisted into the army at the age of 19. Besides, no one from the Husks would dream of recruiting into the Stormwind Army, what better place to hide her face? She took to military life quickly, knowing she had to keep herself part of a crowd she did all she could to blend in and be nothing more than a recruit. But her commanding officer saw her potential and mistook her drive to hide as loyalty. Therefore, when she was out of boot camp he sent her off to The First Regiment as an archer. The First Regiment The fear of the Husks faded away quickly as Salley dove head first into the military. She quickly went from a nobody to a somebody in only months. She even had to ask Lord-Marshal Maxen Montclair to demote her once for her fear of being promoted too quickly and inability to handle to workload. But it wasn't long before Recruit raised to Sergeant where she was leading men into battles, running campaigns and training new recruits. Soon she found herself taking prominent spots in war councils and often stepping in for the Lord-Marshal. Love and War Spending hours upon hours alone with Maxen Montclair discussing strategies and recruitment processes that it wasn't much a surprise to either of them to realize they had a connection. Despite their age gap, love slowly but surely bloomed between the two in their adoration and commitment to Stormwind and her army. Maxen quietly courted Salley for a long time, both very careful not to mix their work with their feelings. Salley continued to work diligently for any promotions upon herself, and Maxen refused them all the more to be sure it was a right fit to the army. Eventually, Maxen and Salley came public to their relationship after he proposed. They were married soon after she left the military ranks to work as a civilian consultant. Salley was accompanied by Tesserra Wylde and Caridis Delythie and given away by Sir Tiral Arentis. Maxen was attended to by Sir Ismond Laldere. Duchess Salley Montclair of Westridge did not last long, however. It soon came apparent that the marriage was based on their works more than their mutual love. When Salley returned from a short visit to Westridge to oversee the harvest she filed for divorce only a few months into their marriage. One month later she left the service of the army completely. Not all was lost, however. It took a year for Salley to finally forgive Maxen for his transgressions in their marriage. They are to this day good friends and allies. The Grey After leaving the service of the military, many of her close friends (all serving as civilians) came with her. Together they found documents of an old group called The Grey. Adventurers, mercenaries. Together Caridis Delythie, Salley Poe, Dame Tanya Seltara, Gruph Stonbinder, and Tesserra Wylde spoke the riturals of The Grey called a Blooding to revive the old guild's name. Together, the Shield-Elders and those Blooded drove under the name of The Grey to find work as adventurers. They fought ancient, highborne ghosts, destroyed temple guardians. They took on hunting down those on wanted posters and sometimes stole from the rich to give to the poor. They joined many causes like the Grand Alliance where they battled many Horde on the front lines. They also became involved with the Order of the Silver Hand. Together, while searching old Grey relics they came across information of town that was lost during the third war when the original Grey fell apart. Using their knowledge, cunning, and bravery, they rediscovered the town, Haven, and appointed it their new base. Where ever there is adventure, The Grey can be found. Family Sisters The Grey isn't just a mercenary group. Salley found a family there, calling Tesserra and Caridis her sisters. One drunken, adventurous night she even got a tattoo of a purple heart over the scars on her left shoulder with the letters "C, T & S" in it. Together, the three have had painful pasts revealed. They even encountered the death and resurrection of Caridis, delving into another realm in efforts to save her soul. Tesserra's darker half overtook her for a time where the Grey had to track her down and restore her to her rightful self. Love Another family member found close and dear to Salley's heart was someone she never expected. At the First Annual Winter Veil Ball the Spirit Shaman Gruph Stonebinder bid on Salley at the date auction (the second highest bid after High Commander Kerdic Lothinil). She taught him how to dance, he taught her the values of the Light beyond the rigorous structures of the Church of the Holy Light. Toget her, they drew to each other's strengths as they adventured into the world, and sometimes even beyond the world. It was a love so deep it literally tied their souls together. They were married the next summer, attended by Caridis and Tesserra, and blessed by Priestess Elesabeth Stanbridge. Children After their marriage, Gruph, using his Shamanistic powers, discovered that Salley's begotten children of her youth were still alive and living at the Northshire Abbey's Orphanage. Soon after, Salley began to stay close to Stromwind and took daily visits to the orphanage as a priestess looking to do some good. At age seven, the two boys--Cid and Trowa--didn't completely understand the circumstances of their mother's return but happily embraced Gruph and Salley as their parents. They now live in the safety of Haven's confines, surrounded by family and friends. Priesthood Political Life Retirement Category:Characters Category:Human Category:The First Regiment Category:Grey Haven Category:Church of the Holy Light Category:Order of the Silver Hand Category:Hunters Category:Priests Category:Rangers Category:Soldiers Category:Stormwindian